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Join the Sociology Department for our annual Homecoming Reception on Saturday, October 18, 2025, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in Boswell Hall (formerly Morton Hall), Room 237.

The Sociology Department at William and Mary is thrilled to welcome Dr. Esmeralda Sánchez Salazar to its faculty!

Amy Quark has been appointed as the Sharpe Professor of Civic Renewal and Entrepreneurship, a position established through the generous support of Jane A. Sharpe and the late Robert F. Sharpe.

Cord Jefferson '04, an Emmy-winning writer, has been nominated for best picture and best adapted screenplay for his debut film "American Fiction" at the 2024 Oscars.

Caroline Hanley, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, has been honored with the Mansfield Associate Professor of Sociology, a named professorship recognizing her for two years.

Essence Magazine recently profiled local community organizer Jacqueline Bridgeforth-Williams, who founded The Village Initiative to advance educational equity in Williamsburg schools. The article mentions initiatives that involved collaborations with �鶹�ƽ�� faculty and students, including sociology professor Amy Quark.

In Memoriam, Africana Studies faculty remember Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Satoshi Ito by Omiyemi (Artisia) Green

The Local Black Histories Project, organized by the Village Initiative, launched a website last month with oral histories from local residents, films, photos and more, which tells first-hand accounts of the experiences and lives of the Black community.

Sumié Yotsukura ‘22 and Brian Zhao ’23 recently celebrated the installation of the exhibit, “Pu Kao Chen: Thoughts of 1923 U.S. & W&M,” at Swem Library. The exhibit was the culmination of their research project to unearth the stories of the first Asian students to attend W&M.

White House Press Secretary and �鶹�ƽ�� alumna Jen Psaki ’00 will speak at the university’s 2021 Opening Convocation ceremony, scheduled for Sept. 8 at 8 p.m. in the Wren Yard.

Flanked by traffic and street art on the north end of Lafayette Square in Washington, Weijia Jiang ’05 makes her morning trek through the labyrinth required to enter the White House.

With the 2020-21 academic year concluding next month, �鶹�ƽ�� President Katherine Rowe will be holding a special Community Conversation with student Commencement award recipients at 3 p.m. on Friday.

Congressman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott spoke about efforts to redress longstanding racial and economic inequality and systemic racism in the United States during a virtual conversation on April 8 with students, faculty, staff and other members of the local community.

A new minor program in integrative conservation will be offered to �鶹�ƽ�� undergraduates as early as the fall, 2021 semester.

�鶹�ƽ��’s Working Group on the Principles of Naming and Renaming (PNR) this week presented its final report to President Katherine A. Rowe, who accepted it during the Board of �鶹�ƽ��ors meeting Thursday in the Alumni House.

The Asian Centennial will celebrate all those at W&M, past and present, who identify as Asian or of Asian ancestry, including those from Southwest Asia – often referred to as the Middle East.

Engaging in memorable social activities is a key component of student life at �鶹�ƽ��, but one that the pandemic has made far more complicated. Thanks to the perseverance and creativity of university staff and student organizations, there are numerous ways to answer that question.

�鶹�ƽ�� alumna Jen Psaki '00 has been named the next White House press secretary by U.S. President-elect Joe Biden, who will take office in January.

As part of the sociology department’s Social Justice Policy Initiative at �鶹�ƽ��, six students are doing internships this semester with three local organizations working in the areas of voter registration, legal redress, educational equity and African-American history.

�鶹�ƽ�� students and faculty have formalized and expanded several programs focusing on equity issues in the local community, and added new ones, with the establishment of the Social Justice Policy Initiative in the sociology department.

As an officer with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Megan L. Casey ’04 evaluated hospital and clinic infection control practices in Sierra Leone during the Ebola outbreak in 2014. Now she's taking her expertise stateside.

�鶹�ƽ�� Associate Professor of Sociology Deenesh Sohoni and Yosselin Turcios ’20 researched the deportation of U.S. military veterans who are non-citizens throughout Turcios’ four years at �鶹�ƽ�� and have had their paper accepted for publication.

Two Arts & Sciences faculty members were recently recognized for their service to their colleagues and W&M.

Sociology Professor Jennifer Bickham Mendez and Katherine Barko-Alva, assistant professor of English as a second language/bilingual education, continue to find ways to work together and help each other across disciplines.

Lamar Shambley '10 founded Teens of Color Abroad, a nonprofit that offers language immersion study abroad programs to high school students of color, to provide the same opportunities to others.

Digital technology can pervade gatherings, and families may best manage the thorny issue during the holidays by discussing it beforehand and reaching a consensus, according to �鶹�ƽ�� Sociology Professor Kathleen Jenkins.

Professor Jenkins spoke at the Religious Studies brown bag lecture series about her ethnographic research, exploring the experiences of parents and young adult children who walk the Camino de Santiago in northwest Spain. She shared stories of families who invest in the Camino as a practice for building intimacy.

A new paper by faculty and students looks at the relationship among deer, a single species of tick and a single tick-borne disease.

Twenty �鶹�ƽ�� students departed for internships in Asia this summer through the Freeman Intern Fellowship Program. They returned with souvenirs in their suitcase, professional work experience on their resume and a better understanding of the career path in their future. The Freeman Intern Fellowship program places undergraduates in structured summer internship opportunities throughout East Asia. Locations include Tokyo, Beijing, Singapore, Seoul, the Philippines, and many more. Each student receives around $5,000 to defray living and travel expenses.

�鶹�ƽ�� sociology students are starting the third year of developing and implementing lessons for an after-school club at nearby Matthew Whaley Elementary School.

In his �鶹�ƽ�� doctoral dissertation, Travis Harris Ph.D. '19 details how residents of the predominantly African American neighborhood of Magruder were displaced when the Navy took over their property to build Camp Peary in the early 1940s.